Tag Archives: Constitution

Michele Bachmann beats RINO Mitt Romney in fundraising

Rep. Michele Bachmann
Rep. Michele Bachmann

From the left-wing Politico.

Excerpt:

Michele Bachmann became the queen of 2011 fundraising this quarter, bringing in a combined $2.2 million for the quarter – bigger than the $1.9 million that frontrunner Mitt Romney reported bringing in, officials confirmed for POLITICO.

Bachmann raised $1.7 million for her congressional committee, and another $500,000 for her leadership PAC, Bachmann adviser Andy Parrish said.

The numbers are sure to roil the early presidential-watching, as the Minnesota congresswoman gears up for a likely run for the White House in 2012.

Much of her donations are reportedly small checks.

Bachmann, a tea party favorite, has been getting increasing attention as Sarah Palin appears increasingly unlikely to run.

Michele Bachmann is my pick to be President in 2012. Looks like she is off to a good start.

Just so you know, Mitt Romney is not a strong conservative. He enacted socialized medicine, with an individual mandate, in Massachusetts when he was the governor. It is suffering from enormous deficits. And in my opinion, he is pro-abortion, although he claims not to be when he is running for President.

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Michele Bachmann courts homeschoolers in Iowa speech

Rep. Michele Bachmann

From Caffeinated Thoughts.

Excerpt:

Congresswoman Bachmann was next.  She took time to introduce herself as a native Iowan and that she is a 7th generation Iowan.  She noted that she is also 100% Norwegian, so that makes her “Iowegian.”  She and her husband Marcus also homeschooled.  They have five natural born children, and were the foster parents for 23 kids, she said that makes her “the old lady in the shoe.”

She congratulated Iowans on ousting three of the Iowa Supreme Court justices calling them “black-robed masters.”  She was appalled at their audacity to redefine marriage, and said that as State Senator she offered a constitutional amendment to define marriage as one man, one woman in Minnesota.  That was sparked by what she saw happening in Massachusetts when their supreme court dictated to the Legislature what law they must pass to make gay marriage legal in that state.

She said that she was the first Republican woman to be elected to go to Washington out of Minnesota.  She qualified that, “I’m not just a Republican, I’m a way conservative.”  She joked that Washington still doesn’t know what to do with her.

She said that she has been prolife since she was 19 having been impacted by the teaching of Francis Schaeffer in college.  She also said that exercises her 2nd Amendment rights, and has a carry permit.  She noted that she grew up in a house where they made their own shotgun shells in the basement, and took her first gun safety course when she was 12.

She said, “I may be 5-foot-2 and wearing a yellow suit, but I am one tough lady when it comes to protecting our freedoms.”  To great applause she said, “we will make Barack Obama a one-term president.  We will repeal Obamacare.  She said that we have a brief window of opportunity in 2012.  She said we need to run up to 60 seats in the Senate.  She proclaimed, “I am in for 2012 to make sure that torch of liberty is not extinguished on our watch.”

She explained after the speech that she meant she’s “in it for 2012” to help beat Obama, it wasn’t an announcement of a presidential run.  She said that she’ll decide in June whether or not to run.  State Senator Kent Sorenson (R-Indianola) is an early supporter, and he said, “I hope she does run.  I think she will.”  Another homeschooling parent that I spoke with said, “she’s the real deal,” but was quick to mention that she like aspects of what each candidate who spoke.

Personally, after listening to Congresswoman Bachmann’s speech I felt that was the first true campaign speech I heard today.  Cain’s was good, but Bachmann’s covered a wider range and you definitely had the feel that she was selling herself to the group.  She does have the potential to do very well among homeschoolers specifically, and evangelicals in particular.

I have the chance to ask her about her 2012 intentions today in a one-to-one exclusive interview, so be sure to check back.

I hope she runs in 2012.

By the way, I think I mentioned before that Michele is into Christian apologetics. It’s not just Francis Schaefffer, she likes Ravi Zacharias, too. She’s a home-schooling apologetics mom!

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Public school censors student for singing Christian song

Here’s a disturbing story from Fox News.

Excerpt:

A California elementary school is changing course after being sued for barring a fifth grader from performing to a Christian song in the school’s February 4 talent show.

The students parents filed a lawsuit Friday saying Superior Street Elementary School violated their son’s first amendment rights by telling him he couldn’t dance to his favorite song “We Shine” because of its references to Jesus, MyFoxLA reported.

The lawsuit claims that after the boy’s January 14 audition the school’s principal, Jerilyn Shubert, told his mother the song was “offensive” and a violation of the “separation of church and state” and asked why he couldn’t “pick a song that does not say Jesus so many times?”

[…]The Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian legal alliance that brought the case on behalf of the student, says while its pleased with the district’s decision the lawsuit will continue to ensure that the school drafts a policy to prevent this from happening again.”Christian students shouldn’t be censored at public elementary schools because district officials think that religious speech may be offensive, which isn’t justified by the Constitution” said ADF Senior Counsel David Cortman. “The LAUSD did the right thing by recognizing the student’s constitutional rights and lifting its censorship of religious speech at the talent show.”

The school is, of course, a government-run (i.e. – public) school. The school web site is here. I found something interesting on the web site.

Excerpt:

Superior Street Elementary School, as a multicultural and diverse learning community, prepares each student for academic, social, and personal success by providing a safe, supportive, challenging, and meaningful environment.

The problem with public schools is that they get paid money up front through taxation so that they have no responsibility to provide results to their customers in order to earn that money. Instead of having to compete with other schools in order to get paid, they get paid regardless of how they perform. So by the time that Christian parents discover what they are getting for their taxpayer dollars, it’s too late to take them back, and the only solution is to sue, which costs time and money.

But there is another point I want to make about the ADF and the lawyers. Where do they come from? And who pays them?

I ask this because recently I have been having discussions with a single Christian woman who thinks that anything that children want to do with their lives is as good as any other thing. I sent her the profiles of some high-powered influencers on either side of the culture war, e.g. – high-tech business owners who use their fortunes to promote same-sex marriage and conservative Supreme Court justices. I would put the ADF into the class of high-powered influencers. But the response from her was that poets can be just as influential as wealthy entrepreneurs or Supreme Court Justices.

Let’s just take a look at the biography of an ADF lawyer and see what they are like:

Alan Sears serves as president, CEO, and general counsel of the Alliance Defense Fund, a legal alliance of Christian attorneys and like-minded organizations defending the right of people to freely live out their faith. He leads the strategy, training, funding, and litigation efforts of ADF that have resulted in various roles in 37 victories at the U.S. Supreme Court and wins in more than three out of four cases litigated to conclusion. Under his leadership, ADF has funded more than 2,000 grants and legal projects for allied lawyers and organizations, and ADF attorneys have successfully defended marriage as the union between one man and one woman in over 40 cases nationwide.

Since the launch of ADF in 1994, Sears has provided strategic leadership in the training of more than 1,400 lawyers through the ADF one-of-a-kind National Litigation Academy, which is designed to equip attorneys to more effectively defend religious freedom, the sanctity of life, and marriage and the family. These attorneys have reported more than $117 million in pro-bono/dedicated time. Sears’ visionary efforts have also resulted in the graduation of more than 900 outstanding law students— representing more than 140 law schools—from the unique ADF Blackstone Legal Fellowship program. This in-depth summer internship program helps equip these students to assume leadership positions to shape the future of American law. Today, ADF has more than 1,800 allied attorneys.

Sears earned his Juris Doctor from Louis D. Brandeis School of Law. While serving in numerous positions within the government, he worked for the Department of Justice under Attorneys General William French Smith and Edwin Meese III, including service as an Assistant U.S. Attorney and Chief of the Criminal Section. Sears was also appointed as the director of the Attorney General’s Commission on Pornography and served as associate solicitor with the Department of the Interior under Secretary Donald Hodel. A graduate of the University of Kentucky, Sears has continued his education with professional instruction at Stanford University, Harvard Law School, Harvard Business School, and Pepperdine University.

Practicing law for three decades, Sears is a member in good standing with the American, Arizona, California, District of Columbia (inactive), and Kentucky bar associations. He has helped fashion the language for numerous state and federal laws and has testified before committees of the U.S. House and Senate, state legislatures, and many local governments and commissions. Legislators in 20 states have adopted his legislative recommendations. Sears has assisted legislators and law enforcement officials from many countries and has spoken before committees of the British Parliament.

I would link to the profile of a poet for contrast, but the poet accomplished nothing in his life and had no effect on society as a whole.

The interesting thing is that both of these children cost about the same to raise. Is one a better deal than the other? If I knew I was going to get poets on the other end of the decision to marry, could I do better using the money for the child for something else that would benefit God more – like sponsoring Christian apologetics events? What is the point of marrying and having children anyway? What is the business case? What is the value proposition to a man who has scarce resources that have alternative uses? And what leverage do I have after a marriage to make sure my plan will be followed? (E.g. – consider this case)

I should also note that the ADF is a charity and is funded by the donations of wealthy Christians. They are not funded by the donations of poets, because poets have no marketable skills and therefore nothing to share with others. Actually, it is poets who invent concepts like postmodernism, moral relativism, emotivism, diversity and multiculturalism, which is what causes these problems in the first place.